Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho called for Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh.

"There has to be a fax received for me. It's a company's registration and business license. Please bring them to me."

"Yes, sir."

When Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh brought the documents, Gun-Ho started reviewing them.

"Hmm, let me see… there is no internal auditor listed in the registration. Only Jong-Suk Park and myself are listed. The company share is priced for 10,000 won, and there are 50,000 of them. The company's purpose is defined as a manufacturing business, specifically manufacturing machines… Well, it looks good."

Gun-Ho was wondering how Dyeon Korea's stock price would fluctuate once the stock market opened tomorrow.

'I will add Dyeon Korea to the list of stocks of interest in my stock account, and buy ten shares of them just to watch its daily price. It should be okay if I buy only 10 of them and as long as I don't actively trade them. What if I happen to want to buy a significant number of shares? Should I open another stock account for the transaction under Young-Eun's name? Well, that would probably not be a good idea since she is my family.

What if I use my mom's or dad's name? Well, they are my parents. It shouldn't work either. Let me think… Maybe I can use Seung-Hee sister's stock account for the transaction. She said that she lost a lot of money in the stock market before, meaning that she has a stock account. I should ask her to let me use her stock account. It's not risky for her to allow me to use her stock account since it's not like I can use her money through that account.

But, I wonder if she would let me use her stock account anyway. Even though she doesn't use it anymore, since it's still under her name, she might not be willing to let someone else use it…'

Gun-Ho made a call to his sister to her office at GH Logistics where she was working as a director.

"It's me."

"Huh? Why are you calling me at this hour?"

"You said your friend—Seung-Hee sister—comes to your office pretty often, right?"

"Yeah, she does. She was actually here a few minutes ago. She had lunch with me."

"You also said that she lost a lot of money by investing in the stock market before, right? So, she probably still has her stock account, doesn't she?"

"I don't know. She probably has it."

"Do you think I can borrow her stock account?"

"Well, I will have to ask her about it. Why do you need to use her stock account?"

"There are some stock manipulators out there. They sometimes disturb the stock market by raising or decreasing certain stock prices intentionally, and they do short selling as well. I want to watch their move."

"What is short selling in stock?"

"It's a trading strategy."

"Whatever. I will ask her if she is willing to let you use her account. I'm one of her major clients now; I bought a lot of insurance policies from her. She will think about it in my favor."

"Really? Well, just let me know what she says, okay?"

About 30 minutes later, Gun-Ho received a call from his sister.

"I just talked with Seung-Hee. She doesn't have any problems with you using her stock account since it is for you—her best friend's little brother. But she is asking you to buy some insurance policies from her or something, in return. She said she was kidding, but I think she needs money. She is not doing well financially."

"She is living by herself, right? I believe she can fend for herself by selling insurance."

"Don't tell anything that you hear this from me. She is actually raising a child. She got full custody of her son when she divorced her husband."

"Really?"

"Her son is the same age as my Jeong-Ah. Also, she is living with her elderly mother as well."

"Hmm, I see."

"You probably have no idea about her family background. Her father had an affair with another woman and eventually started a new family with that woman. Her mother was heartbroken feeling betrayed. And a very similar thing happened to Seung-Hee as well, which is sad."

"So, her husband had an affair as well?"

"Not that. He was just incapable of making money. Everything that he tried during the marriage failed, and when they divorced, Seung-Hee took over the debt that her husband incurred."

"So, she divorced her husband just because he wasn't making enough money?"

"Yeah, but you have to think about the consequences that would follow when you suffer from an acute financial difficulty. People become extremely sensitive and cranky when they don't have enough money, especially when the situation lasts for a long while. Some people show anger management issues under that kind of pressuring situation. Married couples with a harsh financial situation naturally start hating each other sooner or later."

"Hmm, that makes sense."

After getting off the phone with his sister, Gun-Ho went to the bathroom. When he came back to his office, he received a call from Seung-Hee sister.

"President Goo? It's me, Seung-Hee sister."

"Oh, hi. How have you been?"

"Gun-Sook told me that you want to borrow my stock account for a while?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I asked my sister to ask you if you don't use your account."

"Of course, I should let you use my stock account. You've been helping me a lot. Moreover, I don't use that account any longer at all. Holding it doesn't do any good to me anyway. I will bring you a flash drive that contains all the information about the account, to your office tomorrow."

"Thank you, sister."

"Okay, I will be there by 10 am tomorrow."

Gun-Ho made a call to the branch manager of the stock brokerage company.

"Hello, this is the branch manager. How may I help you?"

"This is Gun-Ho Goo."

"Oh, sir."

"You told me the other day that you saw the leader of a stock manipulating club at our presentation. I was wondering if I could have his contact number."

"The stock manipulator, sir? They are very rough people. You might not want to get involved with them."

"I just want to prevent certain unfavorable things from happening in advance, such as a short selling."

"His club is not the only stock manipulator in the stock market in this country. There are a lot of clubs like that. Many of them are punk and swindlers."

"I'm well aware of it. I've been trading stocks for a long time. I know how they play in the market. I'm not planning to meet any of them in person. I just want to have a contact information just in case."

"Well, if you insist, sir. I will text you with his phone number."

About 5 minutes after Gun-Ho got off the phone with the branch manager, he received the text message with the stock manipulator's phone number.

Gun-Ho glanced at the clock on the wall.

"It's after 4 pm. The stock market is closed for today. If I contact this person now, he would reply to me back then."

Gun-Ho sent a text message to the leader of the stock manipulating club.

[Gun-Ho Goo: I've been given this number by someone I know. I'm interested in joining your club, and I'd like to know what you need from me to join your club. Also, I'd like to know how many members are in the club.]

[Club Leader: Please forgive me if I'm being blunt. But how much fund are you going to play with?]

[Gun-Ho Goo: I'm thinking about bringing in 40 million won.]

[Club Leader: Our club is actually an investment advisory business entity that is registered with the Financial Supervisory Service. We currently have 50 members, and our VIP team is composed of 30 members, and we provide this small VIP group with information about the stocks whose price will go up in a short period of time.]

A moment later, he sent Gun-Ho another text message.

[Club Leader: The membership fee for a regular member is 1 million won per month. The monthly membership fee for the VIP is 3 million won. We provide VIP members with information about those stocks with which they can make money in a short period of time continuously until every member actually makes money. Also, we let our members know the timing when they have to sell the stocks.]

[Gun-Ho Goo: Thank you for the information. I will think about it and will contact you again through this number.]

[Club Leader: We only accept a limited number of people to join our club. If you contact us later, we might not have an available spot for you.]

[Gun-Ho Goo: I understand. Thank you.]